Search

The Creation of the Universe is a theme that inspired artists and musicians throughout the ages. However, it was not only the idea of creation that aroused the interest of these artists, but also the existence of Chaos, which is believed to have preceded the act of creation. In the France of Louis XIV, arts and music were profoundly influenced by Classical Antiquity, as proven by the artworks of this era. Artists and composers sought to depict the creation of the Universe, often resorting to the theory of elements - however, this was subordinated to the ideas of the Catholic doctrine. An interesting musical representation of Chaos and the creation of the Universe belongs to Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747), who played an important part in the evolution of the French Baroque. In the simfonie nouvelle for orchestra Les Élements (1737-1738), the composer evokes the state of chaos that preceded the act of creation, using certain harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic constructions. The entire work reflects the aesthetic ideal of the French Baroque, that approaches art as harmonious imitation of nature. In Rebel's work the primordial elements gradually become distinct, each receives a clear musical and rhythmic profile, allowing them to be easily identified throughout the work. Rebel also associates these elements to certain dances, as can be observed in the musical numbers that follow the Chaos, the fluidity and grace of the music reflecting the balanced and refined dance movements of the period. Rebel's musical evocation points to future representations of this theme, at the same time containing several features that prove the composer's visionary musical imagination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music can brings us to light, when it is not dissonant, not dominated by an aggressive rhythm, by a congestion of timbres or by... consumerism that consumes everything - including our values and tranquility. Spiritual tranquility is a sign of spiritual health; it influences our inner thoughts and emotions, representing an essential aspect in cultivating one's spiritual life. This is the whisper of the mystical and transcendental Arietta in the last Beehovenian sonata for piano, her secret, variational message: the last part of the last sonata which seems open, unfinished, concluded however with an evanescent melody which searches its identity at unsuspected heights. The aim of the work is to evidence a first analysis of the postures of silence in musical art, and its structure highlights the stylistic characteristics of Beethoven's masterpiece in this sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problematic in tonality and tonal composition are not tied to harmony or counterpoint, but are the result of their combination. In the more elaborate compositions, harmony and counterpoint have very well defined functions, thus resulting a set of clear basic principles in composition development. One of these principles consists in the idea that, harmonic progressions are the structure of the composition and the contrapuntal progressions and chords are the ones that enrich and create the flow of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principles of prolongation and linear progression give us a comprehension of music from a broader perspective, of general architecture, as an organic scheme of the whole. Such an understanding of music helps us to avoid, in interpretation, considering each note as having the same degree of importance in a musical phrase. Also, a proper division of the musical works into fragments according to prolongations and harmonic progressions is a genuine help in the process of obtaining fluency and correct phrasing. The analysis is necessary because only in this way can the musical ideas be understood and performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Change is inevitable... Change in music is also inevitable, as with all things. However, most of the 20th century's musicians, noticed that this great wave of change touched also the musical world, with all sorts of (big) ideas being bought to life. The experimentation is great, the most of composers are set to creating the „new music", to configurate their own (new) desires, rather than create music being written for specific performance, or condition. Everyone, musician/composer want to try in the new era of changes, to create the new sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second half of the 20th century, a new name as brought to general attention of the Romanian musical world, regarding the composition (but not solely) of instrumental and of choral music especially: Alexandru Pascanu. This paper is an analysis of Alexandru Pascanu's choral poem "Festum hibernum" from the perspective of the modal composition: melodic modal (the diversity of the natural or chromatic modals, of the Pentatonic or pre-Pentatonic scales, or outside the Octatonic scales), harmonic modal (chords analysis, other than the traditional ones: major, minor, diminished or augmented), and polyphony (specific elements: counterpoint, imitation, cannon, inverted intervals, bi andpoly-modals). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

the present paper is a composer's confession of the creating process that lead to the six Prayers for the choir; it is equally an exercise in self-analysis based on candidness, lucidity and the decision to take the responsibility for "musical deeds" that have already been done. The unavoidable nature of subjectivity and the aspiration towards objectivity are intertwined, as the author, in his double identity, wishes to describe the stages that lead to the completion of the scores. The compositional technique for choir is considered through the angle of its components, in phrasings devoid of any musicological dryness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]